Hey all, a real quick one today. This is the new Necron Overlord that I picked up on the weekend and painted up fairly quickly, in total he took me about 45 minutes to fully complete. Part of the reason I was speed painting is that I'm thinking about starting a Necron army and was trying to calculate how quick it would be for me to paint up an entire 1500pt army to play. I believe at this level it may take me a few days at that.
I don't really have too much free time to paint models for myself as I work full time painting other people armies, so I thought if Necron's are quick it would be a good army to go with. Part of the reason for starting a new army is that I have just quit smoking and will use the funds on miniatures. Originally I was planning a Blood Angels army, but the models take a long time to make them look good. What do you guys think? Have any of you chosen a army mainly because you know you can paint it quick due to not having that much free time?

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50 comments:

My nids are kinda speed painted though it took many years to settle on a colour scheme. I reckon for your crons to look really good you should add a little bit more colour. The osl effect isn't working for me here but a wash or glaze of a good green would make all the difference.

Hey all, with this project it's not about having the best looking models on the table. I basically am trying to put together a very VERY quickly painted army so that I can play some games. Something I have been missing out on for too long. I hardly have any free time due to painting other people's models full time, so I hopefully plan to paint a full Necron 1500pt army up in a few days.The HQ model above took me in all about 45 minutes to paint and I will try to paint a full 10 man squad in around the same time.

For a speed painted army that is only for gaming, this will suffice. But something tells me you're not a huge gamer. This would be just fine for a guy who goes to tournaments a lot and just needs colors on the model. I think the overall effect of a entire army painted like this would be just fine. But when individuals are viewed, as in these photos, they probably won't really impress. The thing is, you adjust your painting for your goals. if you want a gamer army, this is great.

I've been doing lots of commission painting lately as well, I really understand the desire to sometimes just tone down painting to get an army out that you can play games with. Since most of your painting time is spent on other people's stuff.

Could definitely use more green, even my wife pointed that out to me. But for this it doesn't really matter to me. Tim, yes completely agree. I have for far to long been wanting to get some games in and this seems the only way I will get a fully painted army completed whilst working painting for others full time. I like the Necron codex a lot, it's very straight forward and as a army to paint I think anyone could knock one out on a basic level very quick. I have a Plague marine army that I have been chipping away at for 3 years and it's still not finished. Those models took a lot longer to paint.

Another point that I forgot is that I want this army to be child proof and anti theft. Last time I played in a GW store with my Plague marines I had kid's around the table who kept trying to touch the models and the guy I was playing would continuously knock the models over each time he scored a kill :)

Oh yeah I have seen a lot of this sort of thing going on at the two local stores I go to. It's almost barbaric seeing something that you have spent hours lovingly painted get table stomped. Grey Knight's are not a quick army. The amount of detail on those models is painful.

Not really. You said you did it in 45 minutes. In 45 minutes you could have at least painted to a basic tabletop standard. Prime, base, controlled wash and a set of edge highlights. EG: http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics14/img4b5e27e0cbc7d.jpg (not a necron but you get the idea).

It wouldn't be clean, but it'd be a damn site better than what you've done. The OSL isn't even in the right place!

Tom is space marine yours? I mean no offence when I say this but that painting style is ten a penny. I should know it's similar to mine. It's boring and dull because we've seen it a thousand times before. What I like about TeNs work is he is breaking the mould. Ok so I'm not going to change the way I paint but I really enjoy the breath of fresh air that TEN brings to the community.

Hey cheers Garfy, I think your find Tom is not being very genuine. These are a collection of his recent comments on various posts of mine over the last week...

-I look forward to your usual poorly-placed OSL. I think he could really use a pair of glowing horns and a glowing weapon. -The skin tones are looking nice so far. I'm just really hoping you try a different colour scheme for this guy. It's nothing personal, it's just that you're kind of defeating the object of painting different models by painting them all the same way (or at least VERY similar).-Thanks for sharing your opinion, but considering you painted those godawful Tau a few posts back...I think I will ignore it ;)

I think it's telling that the contributors to this blog rally around each other whenever criticism is levelled at them. I'm surprised that this model took you 45 minutes. I can see a black undercoat, a metal drybrush and a few squirts of white... and that's it. I don't think an army of these will look good, it'll simply amplify the bad job that's been done.

I think a better goal for the painters here would be to try and get the best results on a model in one hour. Film it for authenticity, and then have a contest. That would be interesting to see.

Finally, stop dismissing all criticism as ''trolling''. That's such a cop out. People have a right to feel a bit queasy when you do a poor job on an expensive model and act satisfied. You may well be pleased with the quality, and your reasons for doing so are valid, but making a post about it and expecting praise for the result must seem naive in hindsight.

TEN, have you every tried airbrushing any of the GW washes or using Badger ghost tints? Something like that might be a quick and easy way to add more color to the model.

I've been mean to you before...but seeing someone else do it puts it into perspective. Sorry 'bout that! Its true your style is very unique. I've never seen anyone paint minis like you...sometimes it misses the mark, its true, other things it really hits bang on.

Yeah, I use the GW washes via airbrush a lot. Probably will get some green on future models once I have a list drawn up. Some of the comments are a little harsh but its quite amusing how much attention one quickly painted model got :) It's crazy!!.

Mig or AK have a nice crystal clear color range too that may be a bit like the ghost tints. I picked up a few and will be trying them out. They look like a candy coat almost. Still love your stuff TEN and a glaze or two of green will throw those whites into high gear - by no means a necessity.

Hey Tim, just read your comment as I have been away and Ksu was answering all the comments etc. Cool man what you wrote :) I read your blogs a lot and if your ever in the UK in London town come grab a beer/beers :)

I get the principle behind it being a speed run test for a future speed run army, and especially for necron troops its a good comparison. But given its a £17 model , wouldn't it be a good idea to spend even another 20 minutes finishing off the orb and scythe a bit more, as they to me are the part that make it look unfinished.

An army of these will look awesome. Whatever people think about it we must surely all agree it's refreshing to see something so different it grabs all of our attention. I wish my brightly coloured eavy metal style captured people's attention like this.

I know I don't have the skill to be this loose and fluid with the application of paint. I love this this mini because it is different. Don't ever change TeN.

Hey cheers Garfy :) I was in two minds if I was going to show this model as I sort of knew a lot of people would probably not like it that much. It's not that great to be honest due to how little time was spent with it. But the main thing is what it's for, which is gaming at a couple of local stores, not being to concerned if the models knocked about and generally having fun with. I learned a lesson on the few times that I played with my Plague Marines at some local stores that I got more stressed out trying to protect my models that I spent hours and hours painting from other peoples hands grabbing at them. I now will only use the well painted around people I trust. With a quick painted army of Necrons I wouldn't worry as much about anything happening to them and would be able to enjoy more playing.

Three color standard, super quick, tabletop quality. I'd say you hit the mark. No reason you can't go back later to do more work, either.I suspended conversion commissions so I could get my own stuff done, so I get what you're sayin'

And most people at the stores I visit have not really got painted armies. Usually they just have primed models or half painted stuff. I generally just feel uncomfortable about bringing a highly painted army in as it gets to much attention. I'd rather the army I played with be subtle. If I was to play in an area in which lots of people had nice painted armies I'd bring the models that I have spent forever working on.

My nearest GW is nicknamed "The Nursery" by the staff of the surrounding areas, due to some of the antics the kids pull off in store. I've seen kids unwrap boxes in store, catapult other peoples model and one time I saw someone try to walk out the store with a Imperial Knight under his top :)

:) I think after all the comments and sleeping on it the Necron Overlord will have a few hours spent on him at some point today to see to rectify obvious issues. So hopefully he will return at some point for Necron Overlord Part 2 :)

Wow, some of these comments really escalated...great work, though, TEN and in 45 minutes I wouldn't have finished getting my cup of tea and debated which brush to use let alone producing this chap. The only issue I have (& this is personal taste) is I love the Necrons with that classic 'Terminator' shiny steel look. Were you impressed with the miniature? He's got a dark menacing pose about him.

Well the view counts for the post and comments is extremely high which is good. But I think all for the wrong reasons. Am I happy with him? Well, I'll do a bit more work on him and show him in another post along with some Warriors I just picked up. The big difference between this model which belongs to me and commission work is that on the commission work I spend a long time on the models that I usually post. This post was just to show how little free time I have to paint for myself and try and get a gaming army together in a very quick amount of time as I thought it would be fun to share. I didn't expect the backlash and some ways it saddens me that so many can be so easily critical on something painted in barely minutes. Oh well :)

Hey cheers Bob, your completely correct but I'm a sucker when it comes to crit :) Just finished repainting him and now he's probably one of the best Necrons I have painted. If not up with some of the best stuff I have painted. Will have him re-showcased with a bunch of Necron Warriors in the next few days. Looks like the army took a u-turn from super speed paint to super evil paint:)

I would be the same to be honest , if i do something and then look at it and think it could be better then i'll start it all over again :) Never happy unless it's the best i can do . People on here are used to seeing your best stuff aint they !

Hi Jeff, I work as a commission painter and most of the time I paint other people armies. Thanks for the kind words, but I think completely did this model again as I was not happy with what I did on this one.

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